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Same path qualified to trend carefully
too cool
One recent
evening I hiked with my family along a
river trail.
I walked in front in the
gathering gloom, pushing passed bushes,
ducking under branches, breaking free of
clinging cobwebs.
How do you
feel about my description, amused or
apprehensive, intrigued or fearful?
I guess it depends on your frame
of reference, on your past experiences,
on your history.
At one stage
I turned to my young daughter and asked,
‘What will we do if elephants suddenly
come charging through?’
Even though she was born in
Africa, she rolled her eyes.
Why did I
think elephants in the USA?
Because I had once stumbled onto
a herd of elephants in the African bush.
Which is why, to this day, I
imagine lions and elephants where none
are expected.
My history
means I imagine very different outcomes
from the endings my daughter expects,
even though we often walk the same path.
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Qualified to design a job
What path are we on now?
Workers are struggling to find
work and companies are struggling to
fill vacant positions.
As an economist by training, I
know that we cannot have an over supply
at the same time as an over demand.
So what is wrong here?
Some managers, in their infinite
wisdom, have increased the amount of
work to be done
and have added to the skills
required to do the job.
In other words, you must do the
work of your two colleagues who were
fired
and you must do what was once part of a different function
altogether.
Now managers are frustrated
because they can’t find ‘qualified’
workers.
Excuse me?
Any fool can design a job that no
one is qualified to do.
Dear manager, let me remind you,
your job is to design work that people
can actually do.
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Trend carefully to be wiser
The other day
I wanted to give some sage advice to
a friend.
I said, “Trend carefully.”
Did you catch that?
I said ‘trend’ instead of
‘tread’.
So
much for sounding wise and
experienced.
But then I remembered the
Billy Joel song about Brenda and
Eddie who ‘peaked too soon’ and I
realized that I had actually been
very wise.
I once did
some very good work at a company I
had just joined.
So good, in fact, that the
CEO wanted to promote me.
My boss vetoed that idea by
explaining that being promoted too
quickly could actually harm my
career.
He was right.
It is much
better to trend yourself.
Aim for steady growth, not
radical leaps, in your career, your
start-up, your business plan, your
relationships and so on.
Go for slow burn, not burn
out.
(And pay
attention to your Freudian slips.
Sometimes they can teach you
to sound wiser than even you thought
you were.)
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Too cool to be right
Do you
remember my attempt last month to sound
wise by telling you to always take a
sweater?
Well, a gentleman wrote to
explain that he had always kept a rain
slicker in his trunk, until he was
ridiculed to shame by a friend.
Now he just gets rained on. That,
he admits, is nonsense!
When I dated
the girl who is now my wife, I often
felt compelled to suggest that she might
be cold in that little black dress.
Her response?
She would rather look stunning
than be warm.
Nonsense, yes?
No, not to her.
There
are many people who would rather be cool
than be right.
My
advice?
Watch these people carefully.
They are the ones who create
nonsense at work.
But please don’t tell my wife I
said that.
Want me to bribe you not to tell my
wife?
Submit your demand here
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Attraversiamo
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